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    The Power of Creativity (Book 2): An Uncommon Guide to Mastering Your Inner Genius and Finding New Ideas That Matter: The Power of Creativity, #2
    The Power of Creativity (Book 2): An Uncommon Guide to Mastering Your Inner Genius and Finding New Ideas That Matter: The Power of Creativity, #2
    The Power of Creativity (Book 2): An Uncommon Guide to Mastering Your Inner Genius and Finding New Ideas That Matter: The Power of Creativity, #2
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    The Power of Creativity (Book 2): An Uncommon Guide to Mastering Your Inner Genius and Finding New Ideas That Matter: The Power of Creativity, #2

    By Bryan Collins

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    About this ebook

    Do you need to be a genius or possess mystical talents to master yourself and become more creative?

    Well, no.

    Instead, you just need to know where to look for ideas and if you're a writer, musician or artist wondering where to look, this book will help you.

    This book is the second in a three-part series about the Power of Creativity for new writers, musicians, filmmakers, artists.

    Over the proceeding chapters, you'll gain chosen techniques for generating ideas.

    You'll also discover how to adopt the mindset of creative masters like Albert Einstein, Henri Matisse and Steve Jobs to get better at your craft and to unlock fresh thinking.

    In this book, you will discover these creative strategies:

    ˃˃˃ 1. Go Prospecting for Ideas

    Learn how to capture free-flowing thoughts, organise your thinking and come up with lots of little ideas faster using proven creative techniques from academia and the toolboxes of accomplished writers and artists.

    ˃˃˃ 2. Experiment With Form and Substance

    When you're an outsider, you're more open to experimenting with form and substance, and that open-mindedness will help you inject a little bit of Henri Matisse or Albert Einstein's thinking into your work.

    ˃˃˃ 3. Change Your Perspective

    You don't need to be an expert in your chosen field or craft to look or even to come up with little or big ideas because being an outsider gives you a unique perspective.

    ˃˃˃ 4. Embrace Constraints of Time and Money

    If you're new at what you do, you probably don't have a lot of time to work alone or money for your creative projects and side-gigs. Not having enough time or money isn't a hinderance; it's an asset.

    ˃˃˃ 5. Become an Honourable Thief

    I don't want you to be accused of being a thief, so I'll show you how to how to use other people's ideas without compromising your sense of ethics (or getting sued) as well as how to build the work of your creative heroes.

    ˃˃˃ 6. Cultivate Intense Curiosity

    An intense sense of curiosity is an essential part of the creative process and you can do it using a simple technique from the business world.

    ˃˃˃ 7. Be Open, Be Purposeful

    Unlocking fresh thinking means being open to the world around you. Later when the moment comes, you'll act on your ideas because you know there's lots to be done.

    If you want to discover how to find better ideas, organise your thoughts and unlock fresh thinking, download a sample or buy now.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBryan Collins
    Release dateMar 7, 2017
    ISBN9781386111726
    The Power of Creativity (Book 2): An Uncommon Guide to Mastering Your Inner Genius and Finding New Ideas That Matter: The Power of Creativity, #2

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      Book preview

      The Power of Creativity (Book 2) - Bryan Collins

      The Power of Creativity

      The Power of Creativity

      An Uncommon Guide to Mastering Your Inner Genius and Finding New Ideas That Matter (Book 2)

      Bryan Collins

      Become a Writer Today

      Contents

      Preface

      1. The River

      2. Go Prospecting for Ideas

      3. Experiment With Form And Substance

      4. Change Your Perspective

      5. Embrace Constraints of Time and Money

      6. Become an Honourable Thief

      7. Cultivate Intense Curiosity

      8. Be Open, Be Purposeful

      9. Unlocking Your Inner Genius

      Afterword

      Acknowledgments

      About the Author

      Tools For Becoming More Creative

      Get The Power of Creativity Series

      Get the Become a Writer Today Series

      References

      For A.

      By Bryan Collins

      ©2018 by Bryan Collins.

      All rights reserved. First edition 2017. Second edition 2018.

      Edited by Command+Z Content and Beth Crosby.

      Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express consent is strictly prohibited.

      This book uses British English.

      Become a Writer Today

      Created with Vellum Created with Vellum

      Preface

      Do you want proven and free advice that will help you become more creative and find better ideas?

      If you sign up at becomeawritertoday.com/pocbonus, I’ll send you a free video lesson based on this book. You’ll also get exclusive extracts from my next book about creativity.

      Get your bonus

      1

      The River

      Creativity is like carrying a bucket to the river.

      – Unknown

      The above quote is an old saying about creativity from the Far East.

      The unprepared man or woman who goes down to the riverbank without a bucket finds it harder to draw from the well-spring of ideas because he or she can cup up only so much water in their hands before it flows through their fingers.

      Prepared people who bring buckets to the river quench their thirst, fill their buckets and take generous helpings back to their friends, families or peers.

      In the West, people concerned about creativity care less about buckets and more about those moments of inspiration when an idea arrives as if from above.

      No wonder the creative process and figuring out where great ideas come from feels so mystifying.

      I’ve felt fascinated and mystified by the creative process for years. I wanted to discover more about how past creative masters like Leonardo da Vinci, Henri Matisse and Albert Einstein and modern creative masters like Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Gilbert and John Cleese found their big ideas.

      I set out to discover their insights into the creative process and whether they knew a secret hidden from the rest of us.

      I found that creative masters fill their buckets with hundreds of little ideas–the ones that seem crazy, outlandish or foolish–and then they distil what they find into a single, powerful, big idea.

      You too can find little ideas (and later distil them into big ones that matter) if you come down to the river prepared. In the pages to come, I will show you how.

      Who This Book is For

      This book is the second in a three-part series about creativity that I wrote for new writers, musicians, filmmakers, and artists.

      The first book in this series–The Power of Creativity: Learning How to Build Lasting Habits, Face Your Fears and Change Your Life–was for writers, artists and musicians who felt adrift.

      This second book is for anyone who has asked questions such as: How can I make something genuinely original? or How can I get more ideas? or What’s the best way to focus on my ideas and just let them flow?

      You don’t need to be a genius or possess some mystical talent to become more creative at your chosen craft. Instead, you just need to know where to look for ideas. If you’re a writer, musician or artist wondering where to look, this book will help you.

      Over the chapters ahead, you’ll gain chosen techniques for generating ideas. You’ll also discover how to adopt the mindsets of creative masters such as Einstein, Matisse and Jobs to get better at your craft.

      In each chapter, I’ll draw on scientific and academic studies alongside the experiences of past creative masters so you can unlock fresh thinking.

      This book is as much practical as it is informative. At the end of each chapter, I’ll also provide Creative Takeaways you can use to improve the quality and quantity of your little (and big) ideas.

      Fresh Thinking and Great Ideas

      So where can you find great ideas?

      Well, they’re everywhere . . . if you know where to look.

      And look we shall.

      In this book, I’ll cover how to capture free-flowing thoughts, organise your thinking and come up with lots of little ideas faster using proven creative techniques from academia and the toolboxes of accomplished writers and artists.

      The good news is you don’t need to be an expert in your chosen field or craft to look for or even to come up with little or big ideas; in fact being an outsider gives you a unique perspective.

      There’s more . . .

      When you’re an outsider, you’re more open to experimenting with form and substance, and that open-mindedness will help you inject a little bit of Matisse or Einstein’s thinking into your work.

      Then, things are going to get ambiguous.

      You see here’s the open secret about creativity:

      There are no original ideas. Old ideas are simply retold and combined in different ways.

      Now I don’t want you to be accused of being a thief, so I’ll show you how to use other people’s ideas without compromising your sense of ethics (or getting sued), as well as how to build on the work of your creative heroes.

      And then, are you open to asking and answering a few difficult questions?

      I ask because cultivating an intense sense of curiosity is an essential part of the creative process, and you can do it using a simple technique from the business world.

      Successful creative people adopt a particular mindset. Call it flow, a fugue, or total immersion. I’ll show you how creative masters turn on and off this mindset at will and how you can do the same.

      In the end, unlocking fresh thinking means being open to the world around you. Later when the moment comes, you’ll act on your ideas because you know there’s lots to be done.

      Now the river lies just ahead. Are you ready to dive in?

      2

      Go Prospecting for Ideas

      To have a great idea, have a lot of them.

      – Thomas Edison

      I look for ideas at home and in work. I capture them on the bus, on the train and when I wake at 3:00 a.m.

      I don’t write down ideas while driving the car because that’s bad karma.

      I write in the morning, at night and sometimes in the afternoons.

      I capture ideas with my phone, on notepads and Moleskines (I once even wrote about Moleskines.) and on the back of Post-Its.

      I write ideas on scraps of paper (God I love a great piece of blank paper!), on the back of receipts, bills, bank statements and even on beer mats.

      I record ideas while watching films and TV shows and cooking dinner. I write online, and I write in the woods. I write ideas down while connected and disconnected, plugged in, unplugged, wired and stone-cold sober.

      Hey, Hemingway! It’s always easier stone-cold sober.

      I capture ideas on laptops and computers old and new. I write on Macs and PCs; I write with broken pens and unsharpened pencils.

      I write ideas

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